Process of producing burnt dolomite



.ular one.

Patented July 31, 1945 Werner Sys, Neuhausen-on-the-Rheini all, Switzerland,

assignor to Aluminium Industrie Airtien-Gesellsehaft, Chippis, Switzerland, a ioint-stock company of Switzerland No Drawing. Application June 30, 1941, Serial No. 400,483. In Switzerland September 6, 1940 4 Claims. (Cl. 23 -186) According to known processes for the thermal production of magnesium one reduces burnt dolomite by heating it for example up to 1300 C. in vacuo or up to 1600 C. in hydrogen or in another inert gas together with suitable reducing agents such as ierrosilicon, silicoaluminum, silicon carbide, calcium siliclde or aluminum. The vapors oi metallicmagnesium escape from the reacting mass and are condensed in solid or liquid form. Such processes are disclosed for instance in the United States Letters Patents 2,122,435, 2,143,197

and 2,159,910. 1

Dolomite is composed chiefly or a combination of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate; this combination is in the best case an equimolec- Byburning, for instance in a limeburning kiln. one obtains therefore principally a mixture of calcium oxide and magnesium oxide.

In the practice this mixture has the disadvantage that it absorbs carbon dioxide very quickly when it is stored at the open air. This absorbed carbon dioxide gives trouble not only because of be-,

ing an unnecessary ballast and reducing the con-. tent or magnesium oxide in'the raw material, but

in a greater extent because of the danger of a use an alkali fluoride, as during the following reduction the corresponding alkali metal is iorined and condensed together with the magnesium. The amount oi the fluoride addition can vary between wide lin its. It is for example of 0.2-5% (calculated on the raw dolomite), preferably 1.53%. 0! course the fluoride must be flnely divided. .It

" ispossible to use mixtures 01. fluorides, that is to say two or more fluorides together, or also double fluorides such as cryolite;with the last compound there must be taken into account that during the following reduction of the burnt dolomit'e'metallic sodium is formed beside magnesium.

The process can be carried out either with crude dolomite or with burnt dolomite. It is of course simpler to use crude dolomite. to pulverize it, to mix it with the suitable amount of fluoride and then to burn it. Whereas a dolomite burnt without addition of fluoride became increased in weight by after having been stored during 150 hours at the air. an increase 01' weight of only 0.15% was measured with a dolomite accordinl the invention burnt with an addition oi 3% calreoxidation o! the vaporized magnesium. 'In the 7 reduction furnace there escape at flrst the moisture and the carbon dioxide from the reaction mixture and only afterwards, at higher temperature, the reduction takes place. However. as the reaction mixture has a very low thermal conductiyity. some parts of the mixture can be already at reducing temperature whereas other parts have only reached the calcining temperature. In this manner carbon dioxide and magnesium "vapors are produced at the same time and react together and form magnesium oxide and carbon. Carbon monoxide, which reacts also with the magnesium vapors, is formed as intermediary product.

One must endeavour to subject such a burnt dolomite to the reduction, which contains as little carbonic acid (carbon dioxidel'as p sible.

The present invention relates to a process of producing a burnt dolomite which absorbs only very slowly carbonic acid from the air. The invention consists in heating to the burning temperature of the dolomite, for example to 900-4000 0.. the crushed or pulverized dolomite together with a fluoride. preferably with a fluoride of a metal of the group comprising calcium, barium,

strontium. magnesium. aluminum and iron. It is,

the best to'use calcium fluoride, as this raw material is choapand accelerates the reduction. 1! the burnt dolomite is to be used !or the thermal production oi momentum, it is not suitable-to i yield magnesia iollowed by hi h t mp One can also pulverize the dolomite after burnlng. then mix it with a fluoride and reheat it up to the burning temperature of the dolomite.- However, this method is less economicalv because of the repeatedheating. 1

The burnt dolomite produced according to the present invention canbe used for other purposes than for the thermal production of magnesium.

What I claim is:

1. The process of producing a burned dolomite comprising mixing the dolomite with a small proportion of a fluoride of a metal oi the group consisting of calcium, barium. strontium. magnesium. aluminum and iron, both materials being in a crushed or i'lnely reduced condition; and then heating the mixture to a suitable burning temperature oi the dolomite between about 000' and 1000 Centigrade for a substantial reaction period:

thereby resulting in a burned dolomite eflectively the absorption of substantial proporresistant to tions oi carbon dioxide. I v

2. The process as in claim land wherein the fluoride by weight'is between 0.2 and 5.0 percent of the dolomite.

3. The process as in claim 1 and wherein the from dolomite by a process comprising the ple liminarysthermal conversion or the' 2 issqcso or dnction oithe magnesia to magnesium and isola- 1000' centrlgrade thereby to yield mlsnesis and tionof the metal by distillation. the step of 'conlime in a form wherein the magnesia is highly reverting the dolomite which consists in mixing-it sistnnttothe absorption otcarbmi dioxide; wherein pulverized condition with a. small proportion of by eflectively to avoid substantial production loss an agent selected from the group'consistins of 5 by reoxidntion of the magnesium-during its subthe fluorides of magnesium, calcium, barium, alusequent reduction and distillation.

minum; strontium and iron and calcining such mixture at a temperature between about 900 and WERNER, SYZ. 

